{"id":5164,"date":"2014-03-15T11:04:07","date_gmt":"2014-03-15T16:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=5164"},"modified":"2014-04-15T21:12:52","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T02:12:52","slug":"on-audience-and-the-writing-we-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2014\/03\/15\/on-audience-and-the-writing-we-do\/","title":{"rendered":"On Audience and the Writing We Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I’m still alive (writing and, at least for the rest of March, putting in extra hours at work). There’s a certain pride in still writing fiction during crunch time during a release at work requiring some extra [tech] writing.<\/p>\n

Busy times…looking forward to April.<\/p>\n

Later in April is a mini writing retreat, similar to the one last year<\/a> — just in a different place (Caddo Lake State Park<\/a>) and earlier in the season. Hoping for a rainless weekend that’s not under the grip of Texas heat, which settles in for months sometime in May.<\/p>\n

But really, I’m just babbling. The real reason for actually posting today is to point people to a blog I really liked.<\/p>\n

Writing for an Audience<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It’s no secret that I think Paul Lamb<\/a> is a nifty person: his writing is tops, and I love the way his mind works. He approaches things with a certain pace and cadence that I like. So it’s no surprise when he writes a blog entry that hits on something just right.<\/p>\n

Today, Paul wrote about knowing one’s audience<\/a>. Specifically, can we ever really<\/em> know our audience?<\/p>\n

A couple choice quotes (not including a great opening line!):<\/p>\n

“…how can you really know the reader, much less a group of readers? Far less a group of anonymous readers who inconveniently do not fit into pigeon holes?”<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t even try to know my reader anymore. I write the stories I have, to the best of my humble ability, and then try to find them homes.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Write Well<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It’s no secret to anyone who’s read this blog regularly that most writing rejections I receive run along the lines of, “Hey, great writing — love the sense of place and characters. I was glad I got to read this, but…I’m not sure how I’d market this.”<\/em><\/p>\n

And that’s fair: people accepting stories [usually] have to make money, and it’s easier to sell something that has a history of selling well vs. taking a big chance. At the same time, all the writers I love take chances…and many of them became icons because<\/em> they stuck to what they wanted to write — not what they simply thought would sell.<\/p>\n

My goal is to be the writer I didn’t know I could be, and Paul’s blog entry<\/a> sums up why I feel that way so well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m still alive (writing and, at least for the rest of March, putting in extra hours at work). There’s a certain pride in still writing fiction during crunch time during a release at work requiring some extra [tech] writing. Busy times…looking forward to April. Later in April is a mini writing retreat, similar to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[62,24,59],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5164"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5197,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5164\/revisions\/5197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}